Every customer facing environment have difficulties in dealing with the customer flow and increased footfall. Businesses adopt several strategies to ensure the customer have a great experience and quicker service delivery. What every business should know about customer flow is that it is not only about implementing a ticketing system, in fact it is a far more complex phenomenon. Businesses will have to have a monitoring mechanism in place which provides customer behavioral data and insight to help them understand the effectiveness of their current strategy and process. A simple ticketing system might solve some major problems of queuing and customer flow management, however it won’t provide any data or offer more control over the queuing process. First come first serve is not enough in modern customer service centers in Dubai and anywhere else in UAE. Businesses offer multiple services, they have multiple service counters, some also offer stepped-services and there are tons of other aspects which could impact the customer flow and customer experience.
In such situation a smart software with AI (artificial intelligence) based algorithms and superior data collection tools can help businesses in effectively implementing their queuing strategy and help collecting data from customer touch points. A customer flow management software is a very effective tool to improve customer journey and customer experience. In this blog we will discuss why businesses need a customer flow management software?
What is Customer Flow Management Software?
A customer flow management software a software application which is designed to help improving customer flow, avoiding crowd at branch, reducing customer wait time and enhancing customer experience. The customer flow management software is a centralized application, which means all your connected branches can be managed and monitored form a central management control panel. All the branches are linked via a server and all the data is relayed to the main control panel and central database in real-time. These features not only improve business’s management capabilities but also enable them to respond to different situations very quickly. Furthermore there are several hardware components that are connected with the customer flow management software, such as ticket dispensing unit, digital signage displays, counter plates, and audio announcement system. These tools help businesses improve the efficiency of their branch and customer experience which is essential for success and growth.
The modern customer flow management systems comes with a variety of other hardware and software based tools, such as Emirates ID scanner, RFID, Barcode/QR Code Reader, integration with email, SMS, WhatsApp, customer feedback and much more. All these features help businesses offer innovative solution to their customers and ensure maximum efficiency at customer flow and a superior customer experience. In this blog we will discuss why a business needs a customer flow management software.
Advantages of Customer Flow Management System
There are several advantages of customer flow management system for both businesses and customers. One of the greatest advantage of using a customer flow management system is that it is customizable and allow businesses to utilize it as per their needs, for example, a hospital/clinic would have a different customer flow policy comparing to a telecom customer service center or banks. Similarly every business have different needs, hence every business can take full advantage of its innovative and customizable features.Here are some key advantages which make customer flow management software an essential tool for the digital transformation and customer satisfaction.
Advantages of Customer Flow Management System: Digitalization and Automation
The customer flow management system help in branch transformation and digitalization of services. The digitalization and automation help improving efficiency and the entire queuing process. With manual customer flow management there are several problems, disputes among the customers waiting in long slow-moving queues and the staff and even with other customers and visitors are a common sight, especially during peak hours. Furthermore it is difficult for customers and visitors to select the right queue as per their needs, people end up in wrong queues more often which cause more issues. The customer complaints are also very high in manual customer flow management methods. However, with the customer flow management software all these and several other inherent problems of manual queuing can be eliminated. The customer flow become more organized, smooth and automated which reduce customer waiting time and also improve staff efficiency.
Advantages of Customer Flow Management System: Reduced Customer Wait Time
The customer wait time plays crucial role in customer satisfaction, longer wait time less customer satisfaction and vice versa. The customer flow management software helps reducing the customer wait time. There are two aspects of customer wait time, one is the actual wait time and the other is the perceived wait time. The perceived wait time is a psychological phenomenon. Think of a slow moving traffic on a multi-lane high-way. We often think that our track is moving slower than the next one, but when we change track and more to the next track it seems like this one is even slower. All this is due to our brains perception. Similarly when we are in queue at a customer service center, we often think our line is moving slower than the next one, this cause line-jumping in manual queuing management. However, with the customer flow management software everyone knows that the customer calling, their position in the waiting line and everything is controlled by a computer, hence no-one can complain of favoritism, or any other discrimination. Furthermore the digital signage display, frequent audio announcements and other features kept the customer busy and engaged which reduce their sense of wait time and help minimizing both perceived and actual wait time.
Advantages of Customer Flow Management System: Improved Service Quality
When a customer flow management system is deployed, the service agents have more balanced workload, the wait time is reduced significantly, and the customers tend to be more happy and satisfied. This is due to many reasons, for example, when the customer flow management system is deployed it automates several steps of the customer journey which results in less wait time, the automation also lifts off a lot of workload from the staff which improve their performance. When the service agents work under a balanced workload, their performance get improved. The service agents doesn’t have to worry about the queues, customer complaints or such tasks, which allow them to fully focus on their primary tasks and results in better employee performance. When the employees have balanced workload and they can focus on important things, their quality of work also get improved. Which means the service quality is improved. Furthermore, as the customers also have to wait for a moderated period of time, they are also not unhappy when reaching to the service counter, this help service agents quickly connect with the customers and improves communication and results in better quality service and more customer satisfaction.
Advantages of Customer Flow Management System: Offer Virtual Queuing
All modern customer flow management software are equipped with virtual queuing features. The virtual queuing is not a new concept, however, it gained popularity in past few years, and now a days more and more businesses are adopting virtual queuing to enhance their customer experience. The virtual queuing allow customers to interact with the customer flow management software using various digital or remote channels such as smartphone applications, online customer portals, websites, SMS, WhatsApp, email, QR Code and online appointment booking tools. All these features offer convenience and easy access to customers and allow them to sign-up remotely for the queue. They can sign-up for the queue without even being present at the branch or in the physical waiting line. This offer them more freedom and control over their visit, and on top of that the customers can receive real-time updates, alerts and notification from any preferred channel. This allow them to plan their visit in a way that they can arrive at the same time when their ticket is called. Hence there is literally no wait time. That is why the virtual queuing features can significantly improve the customer flow and also reduce the workload of the branch. Businesses can save a lot by reducing and effectively managing human resource and branch operation.
Advantages of Customer Flow Management System: Collect Business Intelligence Data
One of the great advantage of a customer flow management software is that it can collect highly valuable business intelligence data. It can capture statistical and analytical data from each and every touch-point during the customer journey, it can monitor customer behavioral data, preferences and even employee performance data. All that can be very helpful in decision making process and help management making informed decisions. The employee performance KPIs and other data can be relayed to the HR department which help them improving their training programs and taking other important HR decisions. Businesses can also collect direct customer feedback from the customer flow management software, as it can be integrated with customer feedback tools as well as any CRM software. This help businesses to conduct several customer feedback management campaigns and do research to improve their future strategies and plans. The customer flow management software is a central application which means that it provide real-time updates to the branch managers, head-office and key stakeholders and avoid any delay in important decisions. The business intelligence data not only help businesses improve their strategies, but it also help them identify the flaws and problems and enable them to solve them without harming customer experience which makes it very important for long-term success and growth.
Conclusion
For any customer facing environment the customer flow management is the biggest concern of the businesses in Dubai and all around the UAE. The market is very competitive, the customers are more demanding and the industry standards are very high, in such scenarios it is extremely important to take all necessary measures to ensure customer satisfaction. The customer satisfaction depends on their experience in the branch, if they had a great experience they will definitely be satisfied. But it is extremely difficult to ensure customer happiness, especially during peak hours. The customer flow management software is the best solution to all those problems. It help businesses enhance customer experience and maximize the customer satisfaction. It help them improve employee efficiency, and also a great way for digital transformation. The digitalization and automation greatly help improving the operations of the business and help them effectively utilizing human resource and minimizing the operational cost. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want us to implement a customized customer flow management software for your business, please feel free to leave a comment in the comment box below or contact us through our Contact Us page and we will get in touch with you soon.
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